Aversed - Erasure Of Color - review
Aversed - Erasure Of Color - review
Tracklist
01. To Cover Up The Sky02. Cross To Bear
03. Lucid Decapitation
04. Inexorable
05. Burn
06. Solitary
07. Erasure Of Color
08. Yearning
09. Departures
A review by
musclassia April 04, 2025
Since the Boston band’s debut in 2021 with Impermanent, there’s been a change in vocalist, as Haydee Irizarry was replaced by Sarah Hartman. The latter’s debut with the band gives her plenty of opportunity to flex her full range of clean and extreme vocals, as the group veer off from that melodeath core in progressive, technical and groove directions, hitting on a variety of different vibes and emotions in the process.
One of the most striking of those vibes is the one exhibited on the lead single from the record, “Cross To Bear”. This was the first track I heard from the band, and while the bleak, groovy stomp of the verse was intriguing, it was the chorus that took the song, and my focus on it, to another level. The soaring, impassioned vocal melody from Hartman atop a rampant blasting assault felt to me, for lack of a more apt comparison, somewhat akin to a supercharged, blackened version of the ‘dark’ power metal of Triosphere or Seven Kingdoms. It’s absolutely exhilarating every time it comes around; however, quite surprisingly, that kind of dramatic emotion is not really heard again on the album, with the closest that any song comes being the late-album acoustic interlude “Yearning”, which reprises a couple of the motifs.
It is perhaps a strange decision to go for such a stark approach on the lead single from the album, and then not repeat it anywhere else, but that’s not to say that there’s no more clean vocals to be heard on Erasure Of Color. Probably a majority of the tracklist has an appearance of one form or another, from a handful of high notes belted out during the chorus of “To Cover Up The Sky” to contrast Hartman’s screams, to a more tender delivery in the chorus of “Inexorable”. On both this track and “Burn”, Hartman’s tone reminds me quite a bit of Cammie Beverly of Oceans Of Slumber, albeit perhaps not quite as soulful, but it lends an interesting gravitas to the songs.
As for the musical contents of the record, as intimated above, there’s quite a degree of variety. Shooting out of the gates, “To Cover Up The Sky” is a high-speed ripper with a slight technical edge that lends it a slight Obscura feel in the verses before it breaks into a striding march for the stompy chorus. “Lucid Decapitation” slows the overall speed down slightly, but fits in a whole host of elaborate arpeggiated guitar textures and contorted technical riffing along with impressive shredding, incorporating hints of a few different metal styles to bring together a bruising, groovy juggernaut of a track.
“Inexorable” picks the pace back up again, and brings a bit more Gothenburg melody back into the riffing alongside the greater clean vocal prominence. Although the second half of “Inexorable” is quite proggy in its structuring, they also bring in a degree of accessibility with some of its catchier moments. “Burn” also plays with more accessible elements by going in an alt-metal direction for its verses; to be honest, this song is one of the unsuccessful experiments I referred to in the intro. It’s a bit of a disjointed clash of a few different sounds; on top of the NWOAHM groove riffs, there’s faster, contorted riffs, some less compelling vocal melodies, and a technical bass solo that comes out of nowhere and subsequently disappears back into nowhere. All spliced together, “Burn” never quite manages to win me over.
I’m also not so keen on the title track, an aggressive, blast-heavy cut with another chorus that I find underwhelming, along with a rather unnecessary mid-song ‘horror synth’ break that doesn’t really offer much positive. Aside from these two songs, however, I generally quite like Erasure Of Color; “Cross To Bear” is the clear highlight, but I also really like the slight post-hardcore slant to the stirring clean singing in closing track “Departures”, as well as the neat subtle complexity of “Solitary”. Aversed haven’t perfected their formula yet (I’ll be very interested to see what else they can do going forward in the more melancholic vein of “Cross To Bear”), but they’re definitely heading in the right direction.
Written on 04.04.2025 by
Written on 04.04.2025 by
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I love the variety of songs found on here. "Cross To Bear" gives me chills down the spine on that blasting chorus, love it! Great album, the only thing on here that kind of bugs me is the orchestral swell on the title track. But kick ass album over all!
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